Jishin! and Kendo!

So, I was just doing my own thing last night, sleeping on my futon on my bedroom floor. At about 3:45 AM this morning I wake up and I'm being shaken. Ha! I'd woken up during an earthquake! It was kinda strange. The house was shaken by many little tremors in quick succession, and then there was a big tremor. I could hear the trinkets rattling around in their cabinets and on the big shake the foot of my futon actually moved northwards. It was kinda crazy. I can now say that I've actually experienced an earthquake!

However, there was one last Sunday, also during the night. But I had slept right through that one. Nobody in the house had felt it except for my "sister."

Speaking of earthquakes, I went to a kendo club practice last night after class was over. Kendo is basically Japanese fencing. It literally means "way of the sword." It was actually really interesting. One of my friends, Thomas, recently joined the kendo club, so I've been talking to him about it. He showed me where they hold practice and so I went to go check it out last night after class. He introduced me to one of the club members there who got me a chair so I could sit and watch.

Then people started coming in. Now you have to keep in mind that I'm in Japan and there were only two other people there who weren't from Japan, and one of them was half Japanese. So I really stood out, especially since everybody wears a uniform. The kendo uniform consists of several parts. First there's the keikogi which is the top piece that people wear when practicing karate, except most of the people in the club had dark blue keikogi. Then there's the hakama which is basically a pair of pants with HUGE legs. It actually looks like a skirt when the legs are together. It ties at the waist and falls down to the ankle. Kendo is done barefoot apparently.

Then, they wear this armor called bogu which has it's own components. There are four basic areas of the body that you are supposed to hit: the top of the head (men), the wrist (kote), the stomach (dou), and the throat (tsuki). Bogu armor covers all of these places as well as the groin area. There's a mask that looks similar to the European fencing mask except it has a piece that protects the throat as well as two pieces that protect the sides of the neck and shoulders. They wear gauntlets to protect the hands and wrists as well as a large plate around the stomach.

So basically you can't tell who is who when they're fully dressed because almost every inch of skin is covered. They did some exercises at first, and then they began practicing. I almost felt like I was in an earthquake! Apparently you have to almost stomp your right foot when you attack, so with everybody doing that it was like a never-ending earthquake. Not to mention the screaming and yelling. During a tournament you get points taken away if you DON'T yell when you hit your opponent. Oh, and I guess I can't forget the weapon. They have this sword that looks like it's made out of bamboo.

Like I said, it was quite interesting. I think I'll try to take pictures and maybe a video next time I go. I actually want to join as well...

Oh, I also forgot to mention that Kanpai (that word from the last post) actually is the Japanese way to say "Cheers!" You pronounce it kan (as in the con in con artist) and pai (as in pie).

Some more pictures...

And of course, I haven't been putting up many pictures so I'm still playing catch-up.

Here are some pictures from my trip to Shinjuku. The tall guy with blue hair is Kyle, the little lady with pink hair is Joanna. The other girl is Katherine.

And here are some pictures from the welcome party that the university held for the incoming exchange students.
From right to left: my "mom", my "sister", myself, and Kyle.

This is a picture of me and some of my new friends. From left to right: Thomas, Leo, and Justin.

Me, my "sister" and my "dad"


My "mom", "sister", and me "kanpai!"


Me and my friends: Kyle is in back, then from left to right it's me, Joanna, and Pam


Then, here's a picture of me introducing myself to all of the homestay parents and foreign exchange students. There was a contest to see which person got the best reception, but I didn't place at all. ^^

My "Mom" and "Dad"

So my “mom” ‘s name is the same as the emperor’s wife’s name. And looks-wise she kind of reminds me of Emma Thompson, the English actress. She’s so thin that sometimes I wonder how she’s not been carried away by the wind yet. But she’s really nice and she’s the one who shows me how to do stuff, like how to store the futon, or how to do my laundry. She also has a really good memory. Sometimes it’s hard to believe how much she can remember of what I’ve said in the past, but I guess I can’t really say anything all that complex yet. And she’s been buying some snack foods that she has heard me talk about like Pocky and mochi ice cream. She even bought me a bag of chocolate corn flake cereal the other day! She’s also a REALLY good cook.

She’s also been helping me out with the trash situation. Disposing of trash here in Japan is super complicated. There are three different bags that they use: combustible, plastic, and pretty much anything else. Luckily some of the stuff I’ve bought like water bottles and such have the little symbol for which bag you’re supposed to put it in. However, there are hardly any public trash cans! I think I saw one at the Fuchinobe station, and that’s the only one I’ve seen. Apparently people carry their trash around until they get home.

She also took me to City Hall the other day so that I could complete my alien registration. I’m glad she took me because I hardly understood any of what the lady behind the counter was saying. I was also able to sign up for the national Japanese health plan. It’s actually pretty nice. They pool everybody’s money and so it costs about $114 a year per person. And they cover up to 70% of medical costs. Hopefully I won’t need it, but at least I know I’ve got it. One of the exchange students has already had to go to the hospital! She fell down a couple of stairs and sprained her ankle. Luckily she’s alright, and she’s getting better everyday.

My “dad” is a real jokester. And he knows quite a few English nouns, so he likes to test them out on me. He also likes to ask my “sister” about Chinese words. Apparently he’s a huge golf fan and occasionally he goes out to the golf course to practice. He also likes to watch TV while we’re eating dinner, and Japanese TV is really rather strange. The other day, for instance, we were watching a game show during tea time that had had these really strange competitions. They had about nine guests on the show and the host was supposed to do funny things without talking and if any of the guests showed their teeth or laughed out loud they were out. It was so ridiculous. And sometime before that we were watching a show where the hosts and a guest were trying out different dishes and one of the dishes made steam or smoke or something come out of their mouths and noses. And I’ve also seen an American Idol type of show only it was for A capella groups.

And my “parents” apparently do a whole lot of traveling. In fact they went to Hawaii sometime this year during a giant hula festival and they’ve been showing me the commemorative DVD. They’ve also at least been to Paris, California, and Wyoming. No wonder they have so many knick knacks. Now that I’ve actually looked at them, most of them are from Hawaii.

En

Well, usually after dinner we all just sit around the table and continue the discussions we started during dinner. Well, this past Thursday we got on the subject of Japanese religion. My “parents” were telling us that they were going to go to my “dad” ‘s parents’ graves because their spirits apparently come to earth for a week, I think. So my “dad” started talking about Japanese religion and how people really follow both Buddhism and Shintoism.

At any rate the conversation came to a word called “en” in Japanese. It has a sort of abstract meaning. My “parents” were explaining it to my “sister” who is MUCH better at Japanese than I am. I guess they noticed me scratching my head because they tried to simplify it a bit. They typed it in to their electronic dictionary and it said “relation, connection.” And the example it had was “strange are the ties that bind people.”

Then my “mom” began to explain that I did not choose the family that I’m staying with now when I applied for a homestay. Haru-chan also didn’t choose this particular family. And it was not my intention, for lack of a better word, to meet Haru-chan. I met everybody through, I suppose, a force other than myself. And that, basically, is “en.”

Oh, and Haru-chan had made authentic Chinese food for dinner that night. One of the dishes was made of sliced potatoes and was really quite good. We also had the staple white rice as well as spring rolls. She had also made this egg and tomato thing that reminded me so much of breakfast tacos. I should find out how to make tortillas here…

Weather

So far the weather here in Sagamihara and Machida has been pretty hot. At the house we have a TON of sliding doors and windows and screens and so on. We’ll take my window for instance. On the inside it has sliding shoji screens which are basically made up of rice paper attached to wooden frames. Then, behind the shoji screens, there’s a glass window which can also be slid open (sideways). Behind the window is a screen, just like in America, that can also be slid open. And, finally, behind the screen is a metal gate thing that, I’m guessing, is used for security purposes.

So, every morning I get up, fold up the various parts of the futon and put it in the closet. I get dressed, slap on some Gold Bond powder (because it is SOOOO hot) and then I go wash out my bite guard (because I grind my teeth while I sleep). Once I’ve said good morning to my “parents” I ask them if Haru-chan (my “sister”) is awake. If so, I go back to my room, open the shoji doors that connect me to the hallway and the storage room, unlock the glass door to the back garden, open it up, push aside the screen, and then unlock the metal gate and push it aside. It folds up like an accordion, but it’s kind of loud. I do the same thing for my window which has an oh-so-lovely view of the apartments just next door.

Basically we leave the metal gates, glass windows and doors, and shoji screens open all day to let the wind in, which is actually kind of nice. Of course, we leave the screens in place to keep the bugs out. But this is only in the back of the house. The front door is just like a western front door, always closed and locked. However, the back of the house is open pretty much all of the time unless nobody’s home or we’re all sleeping.

And of course Japan is really big on conserving water and electricity. So the air conditioning is rarely on. In fact, the only time I’ve ever felt air conditioning in the house is when we had guests over and they were preparing lunch for us. The university, however, doesn’t seem to use air conditioning. It’s so hot! In fact, it’s usually cooler outside than in the university. However the buses and trains usually have air conditioning.

Plus, when you’re taking a shower, you can’t just leave the water running like you do in America. You have to rinse yourself, turn off the water. Wash yourself with the soap, rinse yourself off, turn off the water. Wet your hair, turn off the water. Shampoo your hair, rinse it out, turn off the water. Condition your hair, rinse it out, turn off the water. I mean, it actually makes a lot of sense to do it that way, but it kind of feels like I’m camping or something.

And they also don’t have dryers here. They have washers, but no dryers. So when you do your laundry, you have to hang it outside when the weather is nice. Outside where everyone and their dog can see your underwear hanging out to dry in the sun. It’s actually rather embarrassing.


I also wanted to say thanks to everybody who's been reading this blog! And I really appreciate your comments! If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment.

Picture Catch-up

I know I haven't been putting very many pictures up, but all of my pictures are on my laptop, and I haven't been posting everything from my laptop, so here I am playing catch-up.

This is just a random picture of the outside of Narita International Airport in Chiba.

This is a picture of the hotel room that I stayed in at the Garden Narita Hotel.

This is the view from my hotel room.

This is from the bus ride from Narita to the university. Leo is the guy on the left and Kyle is the guy on the right.

These are just some random rice paddies on the way to Machida.

This is a drive-by view of Tokyo Disney.

This is a drive-by view of the Tokyo bay area.

This is a picture of Tokyo Tower in the distance.

This is Leo, he looks so much like my cousin Marcus!

This is a view of the mountains from the top floor of one of the university buildings.

Japanese McDonalds! (I haven't eaten there yet...)

This is a picture of my homestay's foyer. We leave one pair of outside shoes here and wear slippers around the house.

Notice how much bigger my flip-flops are than everybody else's shoes. ^^;

This is the toilet room. It has its own separate pair of wooden shoes.

This is the view of the back garden from my little closet room at my homestay.

This is the lovely view of the apartments from my bedroom window.

This is my little closet room where I would hang my laundry if there was bad weather.

This is the view from my morning bus stop. Very green, huh? I guess they don't call it MIDORIgaoka for nothing. ^^

This is the cat, Hachi-chan, who can open doors by herself.

Food

So I’ve been trying a whole lot of new food since I got here. For instance, Saturday night we had what my “parents” jokingly called Japanese tacos. Basically you take a sheet of nori (dried sea weed) and set it on your plate. Then you use a paddle to put sticky white rice onto the nori, which can get a bit tricky. Then, you choose from a variety of raw fish on the plate in front of you. For instance, I had three kinds of tuna, some salmon, and salmon eggs on my plate as well as cucumbers and shredded carrots. Then you roll up the nori like a taco and you dip it into a dish of soy sauce. It’s pretty good. They also had nato in a bowl, which is a fermented bean that apparently smells really bad. But I was too full to actually try it.

In the past few days I’ve also had anko which is a sweet bean paste, I think. I’ve also had pork katsu (fried pork), potatoes and this black sort of sea grass (not nori), as well as fried rice and miso soup. We also had pizza one night.

Thankfully we just have toast, sweet breads, sweet yogurt, and some sort of fruit for breakfast. I don’t think I could handle all this different stuff just after waking up.

We also have tea time once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Thankfully my “parents” were really understanding about the fact that I don’t like tea. My “dad” usually has green tea, my “mom” usually has English tea, my “sister” has either milk or coffee if she’s here, and I always have water. We also get little snacks, usually something sweet. Yesterday afternoon we had a Japanese strawberry ice cream pop.

They’ve also been feeding us at the university, usually traditional Japanese food. But luckily I’m adjusting pretty well. However, all of the almost ceremonial phrases are finally starting to sink in for me. Before you eat you’re supposed to say “Itadakimasu!” And when you’re finished, you say “Go-soji-sama deshita” which basically shows your appreciation to the cook.